Chapter six. Questions part two.

Jack and the black creatures' power struggle continued. "Who are you!?" Jack demanded.

"I'm the demon monster that will kill you." It told Jack.

"Demon monster!? What do you want?"

"My reasons don't matter as soon you will die!" It pushed harder, trying to overpower Jack.

"No I won't!" Jack proved to be stronger, forcing the demon monster back.

The monster grunted. "Power is more than expected. Must re-evaluate." It tried to jump back and away from Jack but when Damian grabbed onto its arm and pulled back.

Jack followed the motion and flung the creature into the nearest house, crashing it through it. It raised through the rubble as the apartment repaired itself, lunging at Jack. he flung his red hairs at it only for them to bounce off his skin. It swung its sharp claws at his head. He ducked and sent a left upercut to his jaw before Damian punched its stomach. It slid back but was otherwise unscathed. Jack's fist felt a little sore.

"What's up with this guy's skin?" Damian wondered.

"We only punched him twice and my hands feel tingly!" Jack said.

"Hm? Query. Who are you talking to?" The monster asked.

"Answer my questions, and i'll answer yours!"

"You're not gonna try and spare this one are you?" Damian asked.

Jack thought back about the spider mother and shook his head. "If he's anything like that spider, then no chance!"

"Good answer!"

The monster jumped to Jack and swung its claws down on him. Jack jumped back and it swiped at him, nearly cutting his chest before it attempted to stab him there. He swayed to the side to avoid its claws before stepping forward and hard punching Damian into its face, pushing it back before he jumped up and double kicked it in the chest. It tumbled back but didn't even get a scratch. It got back up and then charged at Jack. He jumped and latched his blue hairs onto its neck, yanking himself onto its back.

"Ram it in the houses!" Damian shouted.

Jack took hold of his blue hairs and yanked them back, trying to turn the monster around. It resisted but Jack already proved to be stronger. It brought its hands back, placing and digging its claws into his head. Jack groaned in pain but kept pulling. It tried to stab his eyes but he squeezed them, keeping his eyes on the creature and not letting go. Jack felt his eyes heat up. The red rings that represent his pupils glew brighter and let out a light red shockwave right onto the monsters back. The force and the surprise of the attack sent Jack backwards, falling on his back.

"What was that!?" Jack said.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Damian said in shock.

"Neither did I, but my eyes are a little sore."

"Think you can do it again?"

"Ill try." jack looked toward the monster, who got up and ran towards him. Jack mimicked what he did earlier, squeezing his eyes tight but keeping them open. He felt heat followed by a blast coming out his eyes and into the monsters unexpected face. He stumbled back due to recoil.

"Nice!" Damian complemented.

"Ow!"

"You ok?"

"My eyes hurt."

"Must be a draw back of the eye beams. Look out!" Damian moved Jack over to avoid the monster's claw slam. It had a small crack on its face. "Hey that did something!"

"I think I could do one more." Jack got ready to fire again.

"No wait!" Damian stopped him by moving him back.

"Hey!"

The monster looked at Jack oddly, observing what he was doing before acting. It cut out a round piece of the ground before it threw it at Jack.

Jack punched the slab and it took the opportunity to slice at Jack, who tried to dodge but got cut in his left arm. "AH!" he yelped in pain. He nearly got cut again but he rolled to the side, geting behind a fire hydrant.

"I got an idea!" Damian said, raising up. "Hold still."

"Damian?" Jack curiously said.

"Trust me."

The monster came up to Jack, about to slash him.

"HYA!" Damian punched the hydrant and water came erupting out and into its face, throwing it off. Damian then grabbed the back of its head and pushed its face into the broken pipe, filling its lungs with water. "Hold him!"

Jack aided Damian in holding it there. It flailed its arms and claws, gashing Jack's arms and shoulders.

"Run!"

Jack didnt even question it, let go and ran away, groaning in pain.

The black creature pulled his head out, coughing out water as the pipe repaired. Once it got enough air back, it looked around for Jack, not seeing him. It walked around, trying to find him.

"You ok?" Damian asked.

"Im ok." Jack said, blood coming out his cuts. He was hiding behind a nearby apartment.

"We gotta do something about that monster's skin. Were stronger but its skin is too hard to damage."

"My eye beams seem to do something."

"Yeah but it hurts your eyes."

"Well, what else are we gonna do?"

"First, let's head home and grab a soul to heal."

"Ok, good idea." Jack checked the corners, seeing if the coast was clear, before making his way home. "Can you sense him yet?"

"He's close by, but not that close, you're good so far."

"Ok." Jack kept creeping up to his place, remaining hidden. His wounds stung a bit but he ignored it the best he could. He was glad he was in the lower layer as he saw a few animals walking around. He got closer and closer, almost making it.

"From the side!" Damian shouted.

Jack jumped and barrelled forward and the monster smashed through the walls, now being behind him.

"Found you." it said, charging at him.

"Jack, grapple him!" Damian shouted.

"How!?" Jack asked, hopping up and slamming his demon arm down on it.

"Wrap your arms around its neck and pull back!"

"Got it!" Jack got on its back before it could get up, firmly took hold of its neck and pulled back. It fought back but it didn't work well for it. Jack grunted, ignoring the pain in his arms as blood spurted out his wounds. He yanked back, his legs wrapped around its torso. He felt its claws rip into him as it reached back, wildly swinging to get Jack off him. Jack fought through the pain and kept pulling. He heard cracks. He looked down and saw that its body was starting to show signs of breaking up. However, his grip was waning, the pain becoming too much. He let go and rolled back.

"Jack!" Damian said

Jack got up slowly, holding his wounds in pain.

The monster was also hurting, getting up shakily. "Who...is that talking to you..I don't...see any device?"

"Heres our chance!" Damian grabbed a slab of concrete and threw it at the demon monster, sending it back, and blew flames onto the window of Jack"s home, busting it open. "Jump through!"

Jack gathered strength into his legs and jumped, landing through the window before it repaired.

"I'm gonna send us back to the mortal realm! Quickly chow on some souls before it follows!"

Jack crawled to his soul sack, Damian sending them into the mortal real. He quickly opened it and grabbed a soul, shoving it in his mouth. He started to heal.

"Thats it jack! Keep eating!" Damian encouraged.

Outside, the black creature limped to Jack's house. The slab Damian threw at it hit it in its broken skin, damaging it further. It pulled itself together and ran up to Jack's house, knowing it hurt him well with his claws. As soon as it got to the wall, Jack's demon fist slammed throw and managed to nail it in the chest, punching it back. The monster stayed standing, but felt that blow. It looked up and saw Jack fully healed. "Impossible! How!?" it said.

"Souls, Bitch!" Damian answered. "Lets get him Jack!"

"Right!" Jack acknowledged, running up to the demon monster.

It stabbed at Jack and he ducked, jumping up to wrap his arm around its neck and lock his legs around its waist. He pulled out, breaking its skin further in this grabble move.

It tried to shake Jack off, scratching at his back violently.

Jack cried out in pain but toughened it out. It then ran into nearby buildings, crashing Jack into them, using the impact to also deepen its claws.

"Cmon Jack! Just a little more!" Damian cheered, also pulling.

Its skin broke further and further, revealing more of its yellow insides. The monster pulled back, crouched, and made a mad desperate dash to Jack's house. Once it slammed in, it flopped down and crashed his aching back into the ground, forcing him to let go. It got up, panting, and saw the bag of souls near him. "what... souls!? Query. Why do you have-" it was cut off when Jack quickly grabbed and ate a soul. Its eyes widened when it saw him heal. "You're a-" it didn't finish his sentence and stabbed its hands down.

Jack was about to grab its hands before it stopped and reelec back, crying in agony.

"Jack! Its stomach!" Damian shouted.

Jack looked at its belly and squeezed his eyes, shooting his eye beam at it, peircing a hole through it.

"Gyach!" it coughed up blood, it also spilling out its opening. "Death...imminent...must warn….allies."

"Allies!?" Jack said in surprise.

It stumbled back, turning around, leaving outside before the wall of the house repaired, looking in the air. "Where...is it?" In its back was a light blue katana.

"What is that!?" Damian asked.

"Where is...orbital…" It said weakly, falling to its knees. "Allies must know….about….mutant...demon." it fell to the ground, dead.

"Orbital?" Jack questioned. "What's that mean?"

"No clue." Damian responded. "I'm more curious about this blade. Where'd it come from?"

"I dont...know." Jack trialed off when its soul came out. It was the same as the mother spiders, blue inside instead of white, and black plates. Jack's mouth watered and he became bewitched by the globe, approaching it.

"You look like a dork."

Jack didn't register what he said, grabbing the soul, enlarging his mouth to slide it in, chomping on it. He chewed it down and swallowed. As soon as it came down his throat and entered his stomach, he felt a surge in his body. "Hrk!" He fell to his hands and knees, feeling his body pulsate.

"Again!?"

Jack groaned as his ears rang. As the surge left, he got up slowly. "That's the second time."

"It's gotta be that soul. I wonder…"

"Think we'll have a dream again?"

"Probably. Before you conk out, grab that sw-" Damian pointed at the blade in the corpses back, but as soon as he did, it disappeared. "What the-!?"

"Where'd it go?"

"No clue."

Another surge hit Jack. He faltered and stumbled, nearly falling, leaning on his knees. "Let's worry about it later. My heads killing me." He reverted back to his normal self.

"Alright, lets get some sleep." Damian said, also changing back. Jack opened his door, walking in. "Grab the soul bag so we can bring it back to the mortal realm."

"Ok." Jack grabbed the bag and Damian shifted them home. Jack set the bag down and flopped onto his couch.

"Alright, get ready to go to that void again….Jack?" Damian noticed that Jack was already out. "Deja vu."

"We still got practice."

"I jinxed ya."

"When were you able to do that!?"

"Ah!" Jack exclaimed, opening his eyes. He was in the void area from last time again.

"This place again." Damian said.

Jack looked behind him and saw the red Jackal. "Damian."

"Thats me."

"We're in this void again." Jack mentioned.

"So it seems. Just like last time."

"Last time a chain came out of nowhere and we had to do something."

"That chain had a relation to your new power, so im guessing this one will be the same."

"What makes you say that?"

"Its the second time you ate that kind of soul. When you ate it, you got that surge, and now were here again. And," Damian reached his hand out, "...nope. Powers aint working."

"So what's this one gonna be," a clunking sound came from beside them, "be?" Jack looked to his side and saw a floating suit of silver armor.

"Oh cool. Armor." a red set of armor came from beside the silver one. "Two armors."

"Do we put it on?"

Damian shrugged. "Lets try." He walked up to the red armor, but it backed away to keep its distance. "What the-?" Every step Damian took, the armor responded by moving back. "Hey!"

"I'm getting the same issue." Jack said, walking up to Damian's side. His armor also floated away, getting next to the red armor.

"Approaching it is out, and we can't use our powers so your blue hairs are out."

"Maybe we have to bring it to us?"

"I just said your blue hairs are out."

"I know but maybe it's something we have to...call to us." Jack surmised.

"Call how?"

"...Armor! Come to me!" The armor didnt move and Damian busted out laughing.

"Ahahahaha! What made you think that'd work?" Damian laughed.

"I dont know, it was just a thought ok!" Jack glared.

Damian calmed down. "Hooo. Ahem. Alright how bout we call it another way?"

"What other way?"

"Will it?" Damian shrugged.

"How?"

"Just...focus on it and well...will it."

"Worth a try." Jack shrugged.

The two reached there hands out and focused, closing their eyes. They tried to will the armor to them, visualizing it being worn by them. They heard the slight rattling of the armor. Jack opened his left eye to see.

"I think it's working!" Jack said.

"Keep going!" Damian encouraged.

The two kept focusing and the armor shook more. They opened their eyes and saw the armor come apart and fly to them. They expected it to go around them but instead it phased into them.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed as black wavy markings came across his fur.

"The hell!?" Damian's fur gained light red markings, being lighter than his fur.

"My fur feels...rougher."

"Same. What happened?" Eight orbs of fire surrounded them. "Now what?"

The orbs darted to them. They yelped and braced for impact as they hit them. After the bombarding, they were suprised by how little they felt and how they were uninjured.

"Dude! Armored fur!" Damaim said with excitement.

Jack moved his body around with some difficulty. "Movement feels stiff though."

"Hm?" He moved his body around, feeling the stiffness Jack mentioned. "Yeah that's stiff. How do undo this?"

"Maybe will the armor off?"

"Were not wearing it though."

"No, but it did phase into us, so maybe we can...phase it out?"

"Maybe? Let's try."

They focused on the armor pulling out of them. Their markings disappeared and the armor came out, floating infront of them.

"Hey it wo-" Damian started till the armor glowed red and the void shook, "-OOOORKED!" He stumbled around along with Jack.

"Not again!" Jack said, loosing footing. The armor brightened before flashing brightly red.

"Gyah!" Jack startled awake, feeling stiff. He looked at his body, seeing Damian in demon arm form and his body having the blacks markings from the dream on his fur. On Damian it was red.

"Hey, it's our new power!" Damian states.

"Just like when I ate the spiders soul." Jack focused on turning the power off. Once his fur de-armored, he rose up.

"Guess that confirms it. Whenever you eat the soul of a demon monster, a new power is gained."

"Yeah." Jack reverted back to normal and grabbed his phone. "Close to eleven." He stated.

"Let's go outside and deal with the corpse." Damian said, also reverting back.

"Deal with it? In what way?"

"Eat it."

"What!?"

"We have to eat it."

"Are you insane!?"

"Nope. We didn't eat the spider's corpse cause of where it was but if we leave this corpse where it is, it may cause some issues on the mortal realm."

"So we have to eat it!?"

"Not we, you."

"Me!?"

"I don't have a stomach."

"Ugh." Jack felt sick at the thought of it.

"Need some salt?"

"Let's just get this over with." Jack walked outside his apartment house. Damian shifted them into the lower layer and he walked up to the corpse of the demon monster.

"Try eating its joints first. They're probably the softest considering how fast it was able to move."

"Huh...then how come we didjt go for the joints?"

"With what? You can't freely move your red strands compared to your blue and even then you'd need some accuracy."

"True." Jack picked up its arm and gagged. He groaned and closed his eyes, slowly inching forward. He felt his right arm shiver a bit. He opened his mouth, his arm shook more, and big down on it, his teeth barely sending into the elbow. "It's softer but not by much." He said, gagging.

"Pfft. Hrnk...ggf." Damian vibrated, trying to hold something in.

"Ugh, he tastes awful." Jack lamented, opening his mouth and biting harder, clinging his teeth on his hard skin. "Ouch!" He reeled back. "Urg, maybe I am gonna need salt."

"Snnnrk, oh man, krrrrf."

Jack eyed Damian suspiciously, bringing him up to him. "Damain?"

"Y-yes...pffft."

"...was I actually supposed to eat this thing!?"

"N...no."

"No!?"

"PHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Damian busted out in hard laughter.

"I bite into that thing twice, you….you...ASSHOLE!" Jack shouted at him, getting so mad he turned demon.

Despite the glare, Damina kept laughing, hurting his throat.

Jack growled and stomped back Into his house. "Shift us back now!"

"Ohoho, ho okay, you did say you needed salt HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Damian responded, shifting them back.

Jack went to his cabinet and got a pitcher. He set it under the sink, turning the faucet on to fill it with water. He went to his freezer and grabbed two trays of ice, going to the pitcher and dumping the ice cubes into it, having trouble due to his laughing arm. Once the pitcher was full, jack pulled it out and turned of the water.

Damian camped down. "Ho...ho boy...ah...what's the pitch fo-" Damian was cut off when Jack shoved him into the pitcher of ice cold water. "AAAAAAAH!" He screamed in anguish, relocating his mouth to top of the forearm. "COOOOOLD!" He tried to get out but Jack fought against him.

"Oh no! You're staying in there for a while!"

"NOOOO!"

Jack laid in his bed, sleeping peacefully with a smile. His arm felt like it got frostbite, but it was worth it.

Damian was underneath the pillow, trying to warm up. "Bastard." Damian cursed at Jack.

Jack woke up with a stretch and a yawn. "Good morning!" He told himself. He brought up his right arm. "Morning Damian."

Damian stuck up his middle finger. "Fuck you." He said, still mad at him.

Jack smiled and got out of bed. He headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. While drying off his face, he took a look in the mirror. It felt strange how healthy he looked. Usually his bad luck would leave him a few bruises and patches of fur, but ever since he became a mutated demon, those traces faded away. His fur was completely full and lush and he had no injuries whatsoever. He closed his eyes and changed to his demonic form, opening them and looking at how different he looked with the eyes, the strands under them, the fur strands, and the sharpened teeth. He opened his mouth to get a good look at his fangs. He opened them further and further, opening them three times as wide as possible like he does whenever he eats a soul.

"What are you doing?" Damian asked.

"..." Jack closed his mouth and returned it to normal size. "Damian….how long has it been since we first met...since you first turned me into a demon?"

"Nearly a week."

"Nearly a week, huh?"

"Yeah, and we've done a lot. Fought our first demon beast, fought a doll, killed a demon monster and got a new power from it, destroyed two dolls, and fought another monster, gaining another new power. This has been an eventful week!"

"Yeah….its just now sinking into me how much...my life's changed."

"You're starting to get used to it though, you can already change on command. You're learning quick!"

"That's kinda what worries me. I'm getting so used to this so quickly, that I'm afraid I might just...push my friends away. I hardly hung out with them this week cause of all this doll stuff."

"Well...you got practice with them tonight right?"

"Mhm."

"And we only got one doll left."

"Yeah?"

"So after that last doll you should have alot more freetime. So I say, take the time to chill with them, go on a picnic even."

"But what about that demon monster's allies? Or the owner of that blue sword?"

"We can worry about that later. Not like we got a time limit on it or anything."

"But-"

"Look, you're worrying too much. For all we know that monster was bluffing."

"That doesn't make sense."

"You wanna see your friends more, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then don't sweat over it and take the time to relax."

"..." Jack sighed then smiled. "You're right...thanks."

"Don't mention it. I'm always right anyway."

"Let's shower, I kinda reek from all the activities as of late."

"Keep me away from your balls, and I ain't washing your ass either."

"Ok ok." Jack chuckled.

Jack walked his way to school. He wore jean shorts and a tan tshirt. His phone was against his ear but he was only using it to seem less inconspicuous when talking to Damian. "So we get to the last doll at lunch and take the last mammal home to free them." Jack said.

"And that'll be the end of the house of souls." Damian concured.

"Afterwards I'll finally be able to relax."

"Don't forget, you ate quite a few souls during our last fight so we made need to restock soon."

"There's still about nine left, so we should be ok."

"Yeah, but those are smaller souls. Either way we should be good for the week atleast."

"Great. Now then," Jack pulled out the radar, "let's see where that last doll...is?" When opening the radar the four numbered icons were all red. "What?"

"Why's the last one red?"

"It shouldn't be!" Jack tapped it and the status read "signal offline".

"The hell? Did it get destroyed somehow!?"

"If so, then what about its core." Jack double timed it, running towards his locker. "We gotta get go check on them! They could be awake and panicking for all we-" Jack opened his locker and stopped. In his locker was the core of a doll. "What!?"

"What!?" Domain also shouted, nearly dropping the phone.

"Why- who- when- what!?"

"I'm gonna grab it and see if it's legit." Damian put the phone away and took hold of the core. "..."

"Damian?"

"It's real. It's an actual core!" Damian said, picking it up.

"What!?" Jack said, his mind filling with questions. "What's it doing here!?"

"I don't know!...hm? Look! A letter!"

Jack looked back in the locker and saw a letter that was under the core. He set the core down and took hold of the letter. He read it outloud. "Dear Jack, seeing as you fought two times yesterday against that doll and demon, I figured I'd do you a favor and go after the last one for you. It was kinda difficult to find so I hope you appreciate it. I would've gotten the animal back for you as well but I don't know where they are placed, sorry. I'll be keeping watch over you till I feel ready to show myself, unless you can figure out who I am. Have a good day at practice. Signed. A friend."

"Who the hell!?"

"...they said two."

"Huh?"

"They said two fights. One against the doll, the other against the demon monster. They didn't know about the fight with the wolf doll."

"Oh yeah, your right. That means whoever this is, must've met us after the fight with the wolf doll."

"Then are they the same person who used that blade?"

"It's possible."

"The way they spoke makes me feel like it's someone I know, or atleast someone who knows me."

"Think its Zill?"

"Zill woulda just told me."

"Told you what?" Zill said, approaching Jack.

Jack quickly closed his locker with the core inside and hid the note behind him. "Zill! Hey!"

"Hey dude. You ok?"

"I'm fine." He stuffed the note on his back pocket.

"Hm…" Zill took a closer look.

"What?"

"You look more than fine….Infact you look...well."

"What do you mean?"

"No patches in your fur, no bruises, even looks like you slept well."

"I did." Jack smiled shyly.

"I've never seen you look this good dude. I'm both surprised and glad! You did more than just miraculously recover from that accident!"

"You have no idea." Jack took a glance to his right arm.

"So, uh...do you..got any plans at lunch?" Zill said nervously.

"Nope. Not any."

"Sweet!" The bell rung. "Time for class. See you then?"

"Definently." They made their way to class and Damian came up to Jack's ear.

"About our mystery watcher."

"We can worry about that later." Jack whispered.

"Sounds good, but I'm gonna keep a watch out."

"Ok...so how do you see?"

"Its more of I sense it. Like I gained another sense and whatever's in my field of vision gets sensed by me as if it's feeding information directly to me. Any further and those senses get weaker as if it's blurry. It's kinda weird but its not so different than seeing normally cause I can focus in on point or direction."

"Huh. Neat." Jack said, taking his seat. "Let's talk later."

"Kk." Damian rested onto the desk.

"I think it's safe to assume that Garmite is dead." a voice in the darkness said.

"Drat! First Aracnis now Garmite." Another voice stated.

"Do we have any information on our culprit?" Someone new said.

"All we know is that it's a Jackal demon." Came a forth voice.

"What's one even doing here?" The second voice asked.

"It's unknown so far, the orbiter Garmite took with him hasn't returned so it might have been destroyed." The fourth voice answered.

"And we only had one, so we can't track him." Said the third voice.

"I sadly don't have the materials to make a new one."

"Either way, this jackal has proven to be a hindrance in our plans so far. If any of us come across him," sharp yellow eyes pierced the darkness, "kill him." Ordered the first voice.

End

Next chapter: Change.